Queen Actresses new and... less new

[Aaroncois]

Hey folks - I'm trying to write an article for my blog about the change in actresses a few years back for the role of Queen Elizabeth. In particular, the article is about the "Mingulay Boat Song" and how the festival retired "Wild Mountain Thyme" from the pubsing in honor of the retiring actress and, the next season, introduced the Boat Song as the closing song in honor of the new actress (Maria Wechsler). I just think it's neat the way they did that and it was interesting enough (to me) to write about.

Anyway, my research skills (meager in the best of times) are failing me, and I am unable to locate the name of the actress who used to play ol Bess. After an hour or so, I gave up and figured somebody here would know it. Also, if you know the years when the role changed hands, I'll include that as well. Thanks in advance!

[irish]

hi........
The Queen that I knew for many years, was Baj. She was the Queen for over 15 years (?).
I can't recall her last name. She taught Theater at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
Baj past away, of cancer, roughly 5 years ago. There is a memorial brick for her, at the entrance of the faire gates......where all the bricks are in the ground.
She was a fantastic person! I used to bring the neighbor kids to faire with me, when they were ages 6 & 7. She 'knighted' Shawn and that was the greatest thrill in his life! The kids always sat in her court, for many years.
She watched the kids grow into their teens.
Baj was replaced by the Queen that is there now, I think.
I do believe 'Wild Mountain Thyme', is still played at the very last closing pubsing, yet. Maybe, I am wrong on that.
Thanks for keeping an interest in writing about the faire. I have old programs someplace. If I find them, I will let you know her last name and maybe a few other tidbits.
irish


***I am sure if you contact the office on a day they are not busy, someone would be glad to help you with your interest***

[Lord Finger]

baj burinski

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=103985190148&share_id=120640947200&comments=1#!/group.php?gid=97023932947&v=wall

[irish]

ty Sterling Scot! ......

[Aaroncois]

Sweet, guys, thanks! I hadn't realized she was ill or had died.

God save the Queen!

[Capt. Morgan]

Ahhh Baj....LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!

To me, and when I write my Highlander FanFiction, she IS my Queen Liz...and I don't think it was "Wild Mountain Thyme" that they replaced with "Mingulay Boat Song" it was "Aulde Lang Syne"....at least, that's what I remember them always ending with after the Queen addressed her Court. I have it engraved in my memory and it is on the CD "Together Forever, The Pub Songs of Warwickshire"...Gods...do they even sell that anymore?

[Aaroncois]

Ahhh Baj....LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!

To me, and when I write my Highlander FanFiction, she IS my Queen Liz...and I don't think it was "Wild Mountain Thyme" that they replaced with "Mingulay Boat Song" it was "Aulde Lang Syne"....at least, that's what I remember them always ending with after the Queen addressed her Court. I have it engraved in my memory and it is on the CD "Together Forever, The Pub Songs of Warwickshire"...Gods...do they even sell that anymore?

The memory is a tricky thing, especially when it's something you're not specifically paying attention to. They definitely have not performed Wild Mountain Thyme this year or last year, I'm certain of it, and I believe I recall learning (somewhere) that that was the song they retired in honor of Baj. I can't cite a source for that, but the song is definitely not currently being performed. Likewise, I can personally attest that Auld Lang Syne IS being performed currently and has been at least the last few years. I don't ever remember a pubsing where it wasn't performed, but it's not something I was really paying attention to and, in fact, I've only really gotten hip to the Pubsing in the last four years or so (prior to that, my wife and/or kids would get tired and drag me off before the fair was formally ended).

The CD and songbook are indeed still for sale at the Remembrance Shoppe - I'm sure I saw both there this year. Well, I'm positive about the CD (I held it in my hand while I was riffling through the stacks looking for one of the two Empty Hats disks that I don't already own) and I'm fairly certain I saw the pink cover of the book on a shelf or counter somewhere.

[Capt. Morgan]

My friend and I started going to Sterling in the mid-90's and made several friends there, We are even members of "Family of Faire" and have been included in the Rose Procession at Closing Pub Sing (do they still do that?)....After 2002 when Baj passed, we have returned maybe...3-4 times, always on Closing Weekend after our Faire (GLMF) ended...so I'm sure things have changed since our last visit..I remember doing "Wild Mountain Thyme" in sign because I learned it from "Miguel"...and sad I am to hear that the rock pile no longer exists for my friend and I used to command the rock pile at closing Pub Sing with several other stout hearty "mountain goat" villiagers, Court and playtrons.



I'll drink one if you drink two, and here's a lad that will drink with you.....

[irish]

"Aulde Lang Syne".....always made me cry. No matter how much I tried to stop, when Baj started the song, I couldn't stop crying!
Yes, they still do the 'rose procession'. It is still very moving.
The old rock pile.......a friend gone from sight! I was so sad and shocked, to see it had left the shire. What a great place to be at final pubsing! And if you were lost from anyone, you could always say...meet me at the rock pile!
The faire has changed.......it is better in a lot of ways.
New memories can be made and the 'ghosts of the past', can always be found in the corner of your eye or mind.

[Capt. Morgan]

Oh I know, Irish! When I heard her voice start...very softly..."Should auld acquaintance be forgot....and never brought to mind..." my eyes would well up with tears...heck, they are right now because I can hear her voice crystal clear.

I have fond memories of Warwickshire...one of the fondest was, when the final call "TO THE GATES!" sounded my friend and I (always) would say to ourselves "THE OTHER WAY!" and proceed to walk through the Shire one last time, in awe of how the setting sun would filter through the trees, before finally heading up the long shaded walk (by Potomac Leather) toward the Gates. One time the Queen, done with her farewells, was heading down the path toward us and as I dropped to my knee, I held my flask out and said "It would be a honor to share a drink with Her Majesty..." at which point Baj grabbed the flask, downed a healthy sip of my "Celtic Hammer" (Bushmills and Irish Mist) and thanked me most heartily before continuing on.

Now time and funds have kept us from returning to Warwickshire, but "Together Forever" is still a staple CD in the car no matter what Faire we are heading to!

[Aaroncois]

It's funny the way my kids look at me when I try to explain to them that we're sitting in the grass or at a picnic table having lunch in the middle of what used to be the Frogge Pond. For them, it's never been anywhere but the north end of the fairgrounds. They'll never remember the Pubside Stage as anything but the Festival and they're not really clear on the difference between Double Indemnity and Empty Hats (especially since I freely rotate and mix the songs all together). They don't remember roasted corn, or when the roads were just dirt, or when the turkey legs were $3 and I used to eat them. They think the Sheriff always shouted down from the walkway over the main gate and that the mud pit always had a wooden roof with colorful cloth inserts. To them, there's always been a slide, a thatch-roofed remembrance shoppe, and the Pillow Fyte has always been up in the northeast corner.

It's fun to watch an old friend like Sterling grow up alongside them.

[Aaroncois]

Thanks again to everybody who helped with this. For anyone interested, the article is up this morning at Virtual Vellum.

[ByTheMummers]

Hi Everybody

Thought I would try to help some of the memories along....

In 2001, more often than not, 'Endearing Young Charms' & 'Auld Land Syne' were the final two songs. 'Endearing Young Charms' was sung at the opening ceremony on Saturday for those who remember.

In 2002, the final two songs (again, more often than not) were 'Parting Glass' & 'Auld Lang Syne'

Midway thru '03 - 'Mingulay' was introduced as an alternative closing song, with 'Auld Lang' serving as either the penultimate tune or closer.

Only a couple of times in the last two-three years have we ended on 'Auld Lang Syne'. If you saw Final Pubsing last night, you know why the 'Auld Lang'-'Mingulay' combo is a great one...

Hope this helps your blog out.

[Aaroncois]

I'm not sure whether that helps or not, actually. My focus wasn't really on the order in which the songs were performed, but, rather, the songs that were associated specifically with Bess and, to an extent, the actor portraying her. I'm not really sure when/where I was given to understand this, but somewhere along the line it was my impression that 'Wild Mountain Thyme' was "retired" when Baj Burinski left the cast, and that the following year it was replaced as the "Queen's Song" with 'Mingulay' (I remember someone - it might have been Sir Francis Drake, introducing the song with a preamble to the effect that Bess "guided England through dark waters like a ship's captain at sea"). It's entirely possible that I was mis-informed, but that's how I thought the transition of tunes went and the reason why Wild Mountain Thyme is no longer part of the final Pubsing.

As for 'Endearing Young Charms' and 'Parting Glass,' it looks like I now have a couple more songs to Google, as I don't know those two (though I likely heard them at Faire, it's only in the last few years that I knew the names and words to more than a small handful of the songs at the Pubsing).

[moose]

1 question - I haven't been going as long as most of you, so could someone mention what is meant when they refer to a "rockpile"?